Bladed Magic Read online

  “Would you like to get some of the flowers?”

  Shifting my attention the girl behind the counter, I frowned.

  She started to squirm and I could have kicked myself. I could pass for human. Nothing about me screamed magic or monster but humans and NHs acted in ways that were just…different. She’d asked a question. If I kept looking at her like she was a puzzle, I was going to freak her out. People like me—non-humans—did our best to avoid freaking out her kind.

  “Sure.” I pasted a polite, fake smile on my face and touched one of the bouquets in front. Daisies, bright and cheerful. “This one.”

  A few minutes later, I left the store behind, acutely aware that at least one person in there had been unsettled by my presence. This was why humans irritated me. I wasn’t worth even being noticed by them. Well, sure, I could have killed anybody in there, but I wasn’t the monster under the bed. I was more likely to take off running from anything that looked at me funny.

  It was the rest of my kind that they needed to worry about.

  But if they’d decided they were uncomfortable, all they’d have to do was make one call. I’d never pass as human if somebody knew what to look for. And I wouldn’t even have the protection of the Assembly behind me. It was poor protection, but it was better than the instant death handed out to the unaffiliated NHs found out in the human populace.

  Shoving all of those thoughts aside, I watched the road, waiting for the turn-off.

  There it was.

  Cobb Cemetery.

  I wonder why she was buried here. Had to be a family connection. If there was a family connection, family who wouldn’t argue with her being buried here despite her NH blood, then that would explain it.

  My car wasn’t the only one.

  And when I caught sight of the other car, my skin started to buzz.

  Sliding out, I kept my face blank.

  There was a man, wearing a dull brown jacket, standing roughly near the plot where I needed to go.

  And when I started up the walk, I could see the way he tensed.

  No human would have noticed. It was too far away.

  Not yet…not yet…

  Veering to the side, I stopped at a headstone featuring two joined hearts.

  Beloved mother and father. You are so missed.

  That was nice.

  Crouching down, I put the flowers down. Somebody else had been here recently. I’d picked a good spot. The other flowers were wilted. It seemed the courteous thing to do so I picked them up, watching my man from the corner of my eye.

  He hadn’t moved.

  And he watched me.

  Somebody brushed inside my head.

  I felt it.

  Fighting not to recoil, I focused on the people buried beneath my feet.

  I had no happy memories of my parents. But I had a happy memory of my mother and I latched on to it, the way she tucked me into bed at night, how she sang to me.

  I love you…

  I kept my surface thoughts focused on that, just that.

  And vaguely, that crawling, probing touch eased away.

  Oh. He was going to hurt for that.

  As he started to rise, I straightened my arm and dropped one of my daggers into it.

  He was striding my way now, head bent. Come on…come on…

  I was about ready to do something desperate just to make him look up so I could make sure it was him when the roar of the engine came from off in the distance.

  I shot a look over my shoulder. Instinctively, I whirled back around as he came rushing for me.

  Satisfaction tore through me.

  I wouldn’t find him, huh?

  I let the dagger fly and it buried itself in his gut. He screamed, his doughy white hands going to clutch at his belly as he went to his knees.

  Rising, I let the dead flowers fall from my hands as I moved toward him.

  Wracking my brain for his name, I stood over him. Had Justin give me his name—Oh. Yeah.

  “Larry White?”

  He blinked at me, eyes milky-blue and vague. “Who are you?”

  I shot another quick look over my shoulder as the roar of that motor came to a sudden, screeching halt.

  Justin.

  The son of a bitch.

  Had he followed me?

  Looking back at the bloody mess at my feet, I frowned.

  What did I do now?

  “You kidnapped and raped children,” I told him. “You killed them.”

  He just stared. “They aren’t children. Not really. Better them than…” he started to cough.

  Justin was getting closer.

  I didn’t bother to look this time.

  “Better them than what?” I asked.

  When he didn’t answer, I bent low and snagged the front of his shirt, jerked him up. With my other hand, I twisted the blade and wrenched it. I’d never realized I could do that—I’d had so much pain heaped on me as a child. How could I do it to another?

  But there was a monster in his eyes. Staring out at me.

  “Better than what?” I asked again, letting my disgust shine out of my eyes. I could kill him, I realized. I’d fought before, but it was for my own life. I’d even killed before, but only to save myself. This creature didn’t deserve the life he had.

  “Better little monsters than real…children…” he choked again, blood bubbling out of his lips.

  Letting him go, I spun away and put some distance between us before I stepped over a line. I wasn’t ready to cross it yet.

  Justin stood just a few feet away.

  But for once, there was no smile on his face.

  There was no wicked, wild pleasure, no violent delight on his face.

  He just watched me with sadness.

  “It’s not easier to ignore the monsters, Kit,” he said, his voice soft, heavy with knowledge.

  Then he brushed past me.

  I’d ignored the monsters for so many years. I’d lived with them most of my life, then I’d fled from them, pretended they didn’t matter.

  They did, though. This one had hunted children.

  How could I live with myself if I turned my back on that knowledge?

  Chapter Seven

  Worrying the knife at my side, I stared at my mostly empty room.

  I couldn’t believe I was doing this.

  It was a chance, the biggest I’d ever taken.

  “You’re gonna be fine.”

  Looking over at TJ, I tried to ignore the twisting, pitching nausea. Nothing said confidence, after all, like going to your knees and puking up your guts. “Sure.” I gave her an easy smile and then looked back into my empty room.

  Home. It had been home for so long. My first home, really.

  But not now.

  “Kit?”

  I looked up and met Goliath’s eyes. He stood at the far end of the hall, his massive girth taking almost the entire space. “Hey, big guy.”

  He smiled at me, his watery eyes sad. “Gonna miss you.” Then he sighed and nodded his head down the stairs. “You got somebody waiting for you down in the gym.”

  “In the gym?”

  He nodded and headed back down the steps. They creaked and groaned under his weight. If they ever gave out under him, it wouldn’t surprise me. I just hoped the floor beneath would be strong enough to take the crash.

  Shutting the door, I gave TJ a smile. “I’ll be back in. For a drink. To talk.”

  “Bet your ass. Don’t forget, I got better information than half of those slick-tongued idiots on the Council.” She winked at me and then wheeled her chair around, heading to the elevator put in for her use.

  I didn’t respond, just stood there, waiting another moment. Waiting for the ache to fade, the nerves. The knot in my throat did pass, but I was still nervous as hell.

  I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.

  Was that stopping me?

  Nope.

  But even as it terrified me, it sort of…elated me.

  Because
for once, fear wasn’t freezing me. I wasn’t cowering in the room, waiting until it seemed safer, until something made sense. I was taking a step forward.

  That had to be a good thing, right?

  With that thought in mind, I headed down into the gym.

  I knew who it was before I pushed through the door and my skin went tight in a weird way that I didn’t entirely understand.

  Justin stood with his back to me, staring at the wall. It held practice weapons, most of them things I’d picked up or that Goliath had given to me. I needed better tools, but there was a limit to what I could come by here in Wolf Haven.

  I didn’t make any noise, but he turned the second my foot brushed the gym floor.

  “Here to hold up my end of the bargain,” he said.

  “What bargain?” I frowned at him.

  He turned and grabbed one of the staffs from the wall. It was the one made for me, shorter, the right size for my hands. I caught it from mid-air and glared at him. “We’re fighting, right?” He grinned at me as he pulled a staff I hadn’t seen from a spot on the wall. “I figure this works better. That way you won’t be as inclined to bloody me.”

  I lifted a brow. “I can still bloody you with this.”

  That pretty face of his could use with a busted nose. Might take him down a peg.

  He chuckled. “Bloodthirsty…just the way I like it.”

  Despite myself, I felt my lips twitch. Then I glanced down at the staff. He looked comfortable with his, yes, but that didn’t mean I wanted to do this. It didn’t seem fair.

  “Look, it was a fun offer, but I don’t think so.”

  “Scared?” He leaned against his, those long-fingered, graceful hands wrapped around the staff as he smiled at me.

  Oh. He did not just say that.

  “Fine.” I shrugged out of my jacket, watched as he did the same. “How do we determine the winner?”

  “How did you usually do it where you trained?”

  I swallowed and looked away. “Trust me, you don’t want to go by those rules.” Whoever wasn’t a broken, bloody mess was the winner.

  Something dark flashed through his eyes, but it was there, then gone, so fast. “How about whoever gets the first three blows in?”

  That seemed fair enough.

  Well, it did until I had him on the ground within five seconds.

  His eyes were still glazed as I peered down at him. “Are you okay?”

  He blinked to clear his eyes before looking at me. I saw his muscles tense. Instinct and training took over. I flowed out of the way as he rolled to his feet and came at me again. He was fast. I felt the air pass by me on the next blow, but it missed. It left an opening and I drove the butt of my staff into his ribs.

  “Son of a—”

  He bit it back, grimaced. “Two points to you.”

  His face settled into a set mask and I had to focus then. It had been a long time since I’d done this. Lessons, though, the kind that had been drilled into me, weren’t easily forgotten. I took one blow. In the back of my mind, I heard a taunting voice.

  Oh, look…you dropped your guard…

  Part of me tried to tense, brace against a blow that had already been dealt. Memories crept in at the worst times.

  The next blow shocked me back into the present and I wrenched myself out of his reach before he could win the bout.

  I wasn’t about to be beaten by some mouthy, pretty witch.

  He twirled the staff in his hands, eying me with a little more caution in his eyes. He telegraphed his moves, something I’d already picked up, but this bout had gone by so fast, it was hard to learn all those tells. I went back to studying his face, the way the skin tightened around his eyes—

  He lunged. I ducked under his attack and moved out of his reach, coming up behind him and striking him in the ribs.

  He swore and turned, glaring at me.

  I laughed.

  I couldn’t help it.

  I was still laughing when he came up and caught the front of my shirt.

  The laugh faded. “Told you it could be fun.”

  “Ah…” I glanced down at his hand and then tried to back away. He didn’t let go.

  “I knew you were going to be trouble.” Justin sighed as he reached up and cupped my face. “Some people are smart, and they avoid trouble. Me? I’ve been dying to do this.”

  The world bled away as he lowered his head.

  It was the very first time a man had ever kissed me.

  His tongue stroked along my lower lip, quick and light, and then, just like that, he let me go and turned away.

  “I’ll see you around, Kitty-kitty.”

  Sucking in a breath, I stared at his back. “What?”

  He looked back over his shoulder and winked. “I’ll see you around. Soon. Real soon.”